Ellen DeGeneres sued over breast joke using woman's name

Titi Pierce's name featured on a popular Ellen segment, which caused "immediate ridicule". Photo / Youtube

What's in a name? It seems a lot if it becomes a joke on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

A 35-year-old woman from Georgia is taking legal action after her name was used in a joke on the show during a popular segment called What's Wrong With These Ads...And These Signs?

The woman's name is Titi Pierce, which the legal complaint points out is pronounced Tee Tee.

That wasn't the way Ellen put it and that's landed her in trouble.

"In all her 35 years of life, no one has ever referred to Ms Pierce as 'titty' until the Defendant did so on February 22, 2016 on national television," the complaint says.

"Prior to the Defendant's misdeeds, Ms Pierce has been called only by her name 'Titi', which as grammar dictates, is pronounced 'Tee Tee'."

According to the complaint the segment led to "immediate ridicule" and because the show did not blank out her personal mobile phone number on the sign, Ms Pierce also received "ridiculing and harassing" calls while attending a family funeral.

It says Titi is a Nigerian name meaning flower and Ms Pierce has "strong, positive" feelings about her name.

Ms Pierce is seeking damages and a permanent stop on the segment being aired.